We are rapidly approaching the 50th anniversary of the Ford Mustang’s debut in 1964. That’s a wild thing to consider and also mind blowing is the sheer volume of sales that the car has had in its decades long production run. It has always stayed true to the long nose/short deck design philosophy and even through the worst and darkest of automotive times, the machine still represented some of the best performance that Detroit could offer, no matter the era. Yes, that is a relative statement. Things were horrible in the middle 1970s for everyone, Mustang included. V8 engines making barely more than 100hp and sometimes less? Gawd awful sticker packages in stead of performance parts? Eight track players?! Yes, these were all things that happened during that decade and the Mustang II was front and center for the majority of it.

You don’t have to be a rocket surgeon to know that the Mustang II will never get recognition as one of the best performing Mustang generations ever, but in a twisted way, it might have been the most vital series of Mustangs ever built. Doubt us? Without the Mustang II there would be no Fox-body revolution, no blown Shelbys, no factory Cobra Jet drag race cars, no incredible aftermarket based around that one model and maybe not a Ford. Nope, we’re not sniffing glue. That car carried on through the 1970s because people were buying them and it bought the company time to develop the Fox body which was an integral of keeping the blue oval from going broke in the early 1980s.

So with the Mustang’s 50th on the way, Ford has been releasing all kinds of neato Mustang related media. Seen the story about the owner of Mustang #1? Yeah, that was a Ford story that they came up with and fed to the media. We’re not saying that to be jerks, we’re just letting you know what’s what. Anywho, this collection of photos has been released to the media for use in stories like this and while we first weren’t all that into the idea, once we looked the photos over and figured you guys and girls would dig them, we’re going to roll with it!

Below we’re going to post all of the existing (or released) Mustang II design model photos. Remember, these were all considered designs for the Mustang II. Ugly or not, they were almost the car in real life. Here, they are just clay models and mock ups…or are they? Yeah, they are. The best part of this exercise is looking at each one and deciding if you could have done it better or trying to identify what model they were designing “after”. Shockingly, none of the mockups look like a Camaro.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE PHOTOS AND LEARN ABOUT THESE CONCEPTUAL CARS THAT DIDN’T MAKE THE CUT!

Wow. Thank the heavens that this one didn’t make the cut. Honestly, it looks way too much from one of those weirdo French Citroens. With the fastback style roof, weirdo rear wheel skirts, and extra long nose…think this was intended to be FWD?

Ok this design was clearly inspired by the Chevy Monza. By inspired, we mean completely ripped off of it. Grill shape, stance, backside, etc was all brought on by the Monza.

Do you see what I see here? Looks like the beginning of the Fairmont to me, minus the weirdo nose. Windshield rake, rear quarter windows, etc all harken to Fairmont.

Then this one pretty much is very reminiscent of a Granada. Seriously, look at this and then check out a 1975 Granada. If the headlight buckets were filled with a large single light instead of the doubles, it would be a dead nuts look.

This design looks totally Japanese which is weird because by 1974 the Japanese designs did not look like this car. By the end of the 1970s though, they all looked like this car. We’re wondering where the plans for this one came from because it looks like nothing that anyone was building in America at that time. (Note: I was struggling to place this design with another car when I wrote this and then John commented below and hit it on the head, it is a larger Saab Sonnet looking piece! Good eye, John!)

This one has the feel of a shrunken 1967 Thunderbird…at least the hood does. It is kind of like a first generation RX-7 with a facial growth of some kind. The slot mags are money, though.

While we cannot see the nose of this car, this side/rear view is pretty cool. We dig the thick C-pillar, side scallops, and tail lights. This design, unless the front was completely a disaster, would be cool to have today for hot rodding purposes.

Finally, here’s where the Mustang II started life. Are we insane for saying out loud that with the slot mags, we’re into this car? Hey, the front suspension has underpinned millions of hot rods and other projects since 1974! We want this car with bigger wheels/tires and that Z460 crate mill.